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I am gonna do a series on the 31 teams again this offseason, following the usual pattern of the past several seasons with a few changes along the way. Anyway, kicking it off with last seasons doormat, the Colorado Avalanche

A QUICK LOOK BACK AT LAST SEASON: That is all the avalanche would want, a quick glance back, preferably with hands over both eyes.

It began right before camp when iconic player/coach Patrick Roy quit, walked out, whatever you want to call it, leaving GM and friend Joe Sakic with no coach right before the season began. Roy was unhappy with the moves made during the offseason and looking upon it now he appears to have been right. They actually started okay, going 9-9 early after besting the Wild and Jackets on back to back nights and looking like a break here or there they might be okay.

It didnt turn out that way. Over the next 20 games they went 3-16-1 and were done by Christmas. They finished the year 22-56-4 the worst record post lockout of any team. If you take the 9-9 start out, from there they actually went 13-47-4 which is nearly historically bad.

And it gets worse. Rumors swirled about the possible trades of Matt Duchene or Nathan MacKinnon or Gabriel Landeskog but nothing happened. They enter this offseason with a cloud hanging over them.

FREE AGENTS: Not much. A batch of veterans who stole their paychecks last year most of whom will be in Europe next season.

JOHN MITCHELL. Not of Watergate fame. Not of any fame really.

FEDOR TYUTIN Not just Tyutin but crapping every time a forward came down ice with the puck on his stick. Stick a fork in him.

GABRIEL AND RENE BOURQUE No relation although they played equally bad.

CODY GOLOUBEF Decent number 7 defenseman but on this crew played top four minutes.

The real decision to be made is what to do about trading one or more of Duchene, MacKinnon or Landeskog.

Duchene would be the real prize, he seemed to lose interest last season, especially after the deadline when he woke up and to his horror was still in Colorado. With the right team he could be a top six center or a top line winger and lots of teams are expected to kick the tires.

MacKinnon led the team in scoring with 53 points and was minus 14 which believe it or not, there were twelve Avalanche players worse than him in that category. Truthfully Sakic has rebuffed calls on him and likely will continue to do so.

That brings us to Gabriel Landeskog who had only 33 points, was minus 25 and for some reason Sakic continues to bluster that he wont trade him unless he gets the farm for. Landeskog has slipped for the past several years, ever since he signed an absurd 7 year contract and still has 4 years at 6 million a year remaining. If someone offers anything of value for this salary cap anchor Sakic should jump at it before they wake up. He is among the short list of most overrated players in the game today. They gave him the captaincy, they gave him 39 million dollars, he has given them nothing. He has to go if it is possible.

The other player they are discussing moving is Tyson Barrie, a little June bug of a defenseman, he gets pushed around in the defensive zone so is awful in his primary role but he can move the puck so paired with the proper stay at home partner who covers his tail he might be able to do well. The problem in Colorado is the defense is probably the leagues worst, the forwards did not back check and the goaltending was god awful so Barrie was forced to collapse into his own zone which is his weakness. If he is moved a team will get a quality player.

Mikko Rantanen can flat out play, He led the team in goals with 20 in his rookie year and will only get better. Young forwards Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher both got their feet wet and did not embarrass themselves which was a rarity with this crew, both will play top nine minutes this season.

In net, Valrmamov was awful then hurt, then awful and hurt again, Calvin Pickard is not now and never will be an NHL goalie, he is AHL material forced into a role that he does not deserve. Barring a miracle both are expected back.

Veterans such as Comeau, Nieto, Beauchemin, colborne and Soderberg are all expected back. They are just bodies, all with glaring deficiencies. They do hope that Erik Johnson comes back in a big way. I hope that Heather Locklear stops over one night in a skimpy little lace thing and that my wife is understanding. We both have the same chances of being right.

That leads finally to Igor Grigorenko and Nikita Zadorov, the winger and defenseman whom Sakic acquired from the Sabres for Ryan O'Reilly. O'Reilly has settled in quite nicely (other than opening up a drive through at a Tim Horton's with his truck) while Grigorenko had ten goals for a whole seasons work on the wing and rumor is he never hit a single opponent in a single game all year, while Zadorov went Oh for the season scoring wise and was easier to score on than anything this side of the Bunny Ranch.

Oh, and knowing Sakic, out of this misassembled crew that would be rejected by the French Foreign Legion it seems certain that the Vegas Knights will find a diamond in the rough somehow left exposed. Sakic is the worst GM in Hockey. forget Benning and Snow, his personnel decisions make those two look like Bowman and Rutherford.

so there ya go, the Colorado Avalanche offseason review. Move along, nothing to see here.

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The Aves may have some trouble signing 22 yr old, Nikita Zadorov. It seems Zadorov doesn't think Sakic offered him enough money and that he has a deal on the table with KHL's CSKA. Zadorov only had 10 assists last year in 56 games played with a -20 +/- so he hardly qualifies for much of a raise.

Zadorov too could be looking to play in the Olympics also.

Without Zadorov the Aves only have 3 defensemen signed to contracts so I'm kind of surprised they didn't pursue any free agent defensemen.

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The Aves may have some trouble signing 22 yr old, Nikita Zadorov. It seems Zadorov doesn't think Sakic offered him enough money and that he has a deal on the table with KHL's CSKA. Zadorov only had 10 assists last year in 56 games played with a -20 +/- so he hardly qualifies for much of a raise.

Zadorov too could be looking to play in the Olympics also.

Without Zadorov the Aves only have 3 defensemen signed to contracts so I'm kind of surprised they didn't pursue any free agent defensemen.

Are they still in danger of losing highly touted prospect Will Butcher i hadn't heard anything else about him?